R18+ ratings for video games in Australia?

There has been a lot going around the blogosphere and wider internet about Michael Atkinson and his refusal to allow Australia to introduce an 18+ rating for computer and video games. I was discussing it with a friend the other day who otherwise is pretty clued in when it comes to politics, but she hadn't really looked into this discussion much. I think a lot of non-gamers haven't. I didn't, for a long time (I saw mention of it here and there on the news websites I frequented, but never read any of the articles), until towards the end of last year.

I think it's important that people do, though. It doesn't just affect gamers. It affects every family that has children who play games in the higher-rating area.

Basically, the current rules say that anything that deserves higher than an MA15+ rating is banned from Australia. Australia is the only western country that doesn't have an 18+ rating. Our politicians can change the classification rules, but this one is different to just introducing a new law. All the Governors-General need to agree, and the only one still holding out against it is the Governor-General of South Australia, Michael Atkinson.

His argument is that if we allow games above an MA15+ rating, then we're allowing everything. He's forgetting that - like movies - if something is too 'bad' for an 18+ rating (eg. is deserving of an X rating), it still gets banned. He rationalises that 18+ movies are ok because they're not interactive, but the interactive games affect people more.

He also argues that by allowing 18+ video game content into the country, we are making it available to children. This just doesn't even make sense.        

Above: Example of a game (Left For Dead 2) that was banned due to not achieving an MA15+ rating.

You're not allowed into an 18+ movie without showing ID and you're not allowed to hire an 18+ movie without ID, so why would you be able to hire/buy an 18+ video game without ID? It's a very basic but effective level of protection against underaged kids having access to such material. Of course you may still get parents who buy that stuff for their kids', but then it's their responsibility. We currently have uninformed parents (or worse, informed parents who don't care) buying their kids MA15+ games involving violent crime & sex for their 11 year olds, but the 11 year olds aren't waltzing into shops and buying it themselves. Just like if parents buy their kids alcohol, it's the parents' responsibility - you don't ban alcohol for that, do you?

 

An example of a game (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) that achieved 17+ or higher ratings overseas, but is available to mid-teens in Australia due to its MA15+ rating.

There's a lot of stuff out there that isn't suitable for kids, and where laws come to an end parents are responsible for keeping their kids away from such things. Alcohol, MA/R rated movies; even basic safety issues like fire and swimming pools. Michael Atkinson thinks parents cannot be trusted to keep such material away from their kids if they own it themselves, and that once in the home these games "cannot be policed" (since when does Australia 'police' otherwise legal activity inside private homes?)- so apparently he needs to do a parent's job himself.

He also forgets that the average age of Australian gamers is 35. That's right -under 18 year olds make up a minority of the Australian gaming community.

The last important point that I think needs to made is that we currently have games that are deserving of an 18+ rating. But they've been squeezed into the MA15+ rating, making poorly-informed parents think this game is suitable for their 15 year old.
Above: Example of a game (Grand Theft Auto IV) that many think deserves an R18+ rating but gained an MA15+ rating.

This is illustrated by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 which nabbed itself an MA15+ rating in Australia, but was rated M17+ in the US and 18+ in the UK. Another example is Grand Theft Auto IV which was given an 18+ rating in the UK, R18 in NZ and 18+ in Europe, but got away with MA15+ in Australia.

If we had the 18+ rating available to us, the classification board could easily slap an 18+ rating on any games deserving of it, and we probably wouldn't have as many parents buying their mid-teen kids Grand Theft Auto IV.

I don't want to play R18+ games. I don't like them. I've seen one (bought from the UK over the net) played (and while bloody and gory, not what I would have thought was deserving of an R rating) and really have no interest in it. It's gross. But other people enjoy it and there's no reason why a person is allowed to kill themselves with cigarettes and alcohol, or go watch a highly violent/graphic/sexual R18+ movie where innocent people are mutilated, but can't play a game where you kill CGI zombies with what some people think is an excessive amount of blood splatter.

 

Some of the excessive blood splatter that gained Left for Dead 2 its banned status in Australia. A special edition was  later modified by its makers for sale in Australia.